The Facts DO Matter in Terms of Charter Schools

Remember the post “The fact’s don’t matter”, with the League of Education Voters”?

As I wrote:

During Munn’s presentation this week praising the glories of charter schools, one of the images she showed during her rather weak Power Point presentation were the words The “fact’s” don’t matter. She said that approving or disapproving of charter schools was simply a matter of “values”, either you like them or you don’t.

How convenient to say that the facts don’t matter when there is a plethora of information regarding charter schools and most of it is not good.

I was pulling together some information that someone had requested on charter schools this morning and as the list was growing, I decided to share some of the articles and information that I have gathered over the last three years on charter schools on this blog.

The question posed to me is what happens when a school is privatized. The articles were selected from the right hand column of this page. These are just a few examples of many.

My response to the question of what happens when a public school is privatized went as follows:

There is a resegregation of the schools:

The NAACP resolution regarding charter schools.

Even the KKK agrees.

Charter schools prefer hiring non-union teachers, in fact they insist on it the majority of the time:

After union bid, fired charter school teachers allege retaliation.

Approximately 90% of charter schools only hire non-union teachers and certification is not always a requirement, neither is experience for that matter. As far as many charter schools are concerned, the cheaper the labor force, the larger the profits.

That’s where Teach for American, Inc. comes into play. Fresh out of college recruits hired on for two years to teach our most vulnerable at a next to nothing salary. About 30% of all charter schools are populated with these teaching temps.

Public schools are closed to make room for charter schools,

The Closing of the Catherine Ferguson Academy,

even though parents and students fight to keep them open,

School Committee Vote Draw Outrage and Grief.

Rarely do charter schools move into “new”space. They are usually co-housed with public schools or moved into a school that has been closed and re-opened as a charter school. When there is an opportunity for charter schools to rent “new” space, this is what happens:

Albany charter cash cow.

These CEO’s who head charter schools pay themselves an inordinate amount of money:

Kathy Black on board of Harlem Village Academies,

CEO pay in Charter School Chains.

Some of these operators pay themselves a lot of money but don’t provide text books to the students:

Charter school accused of scrimping on supplies and support under investigation,

…or make the teachers also be the janitors:

Dirty job: Charter teachers janitors.

…or teach the students in a tool shed:

Florida charter schools: big money, little oversight.

Unethical, non-educators run or manage these charter schools purely for profit:

10 Northeast Ohio charter school boards sue White Hat Management firm,